Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-06-03
THE QUEENS MAIDS.
Hard Work of the Young Ladies Who Wait
on EnglRnd's Sovereign,
Boston Post.

on EngIRnd's Sovereign,
Boston Post.
The maids of honor to the Queen carr
every penny of the 600 year which il
their stipend for filing very Difficult,
position. While on duty they can not
call their souls their own. After break
fast, which they take in their own rooms
they have to hold Themselves in instant
! readiness TO obey the Queens summons
which comes the moment Sir Henry Pom
sonby quits her Majesty's presence, with
the big red-morocco dispatch box con
tanning his days work under his arm.
After brief "good morning" the Queen
suggests little reading, and the dutiful
maid addresses herself to the pile OF
papers wherein the proper passages for
her Msjesty's hearing have already been
marked by Sir Henry. Through columns
and columns Of Parliamentary debate,
leading article and correspondence has
the poor lady to intone her dismal way,
often having to repeat passages, for the
Queen never leaves s subject till she has
thoroughly mastered it, and is not st all
sparing in her commands TO Gust read
that again, please" The maid Of honor
is so busy minding her stops and trying
to modulate her voice that she has little
chance Of understanding 1.-THE OF what
she is reading, and yet the moment the
reading is over she has to rush of and
get ready for a drive with her royal mis-
tress, during which she will be expected
to make lucid remarks on the topics she
has just read aloud.
After luncheon is the only real time the
maids OF honor have to themselves, and
even that is spoilt for them by the unCer-
tainty as TO whether they Will be wanted
TO walk or drive with the Queen later i'll
the afternoon. They must stay in their
apartments, for ii by chance they should
be sent for and were not to be found at
the moment, their life for day or two
would not be happy one, so that stroll
in the grounds en- their own account is
out Of the question, till after 4 O'Clock,
when, if the Queen has departed on a
drive without them, they know they are
free till 6 at any rate. On the Queens
return there Is more reading aloud, this
time OF pOnderOus works on heavy phil
subjects, or else the arranging
Of sketches, photographs, or, it may be,
the charity needlewOTk is brought out till
sue time as her Majesty goes 10 dress
for her 9 O'Clock dinner. where 60 the re
lief of the maid Of honor. she is not
TO be present By this time she
is not unfrequently faint for want Of food,
for when nor at Court she would Iatu-
rally be finishing dinner at the hour when
10 is the Queens pleasure to commence ii. !
Youag ladies' co not, as rule. Jump
at the post Of maid Of honor C. the Queen
till they have given themselves fsir
chance Of obtaining an establishment"
1t is not till season after season has been
drawn blank that discousClat5 ladies' have
to the dignity, very much minus
the leisure, Of joining the "hogseuoId."
It follows that. though by no means IN
the sere and yellow leaf, the majority of
the maids Of honor are not in The first
blush of budding girlhood. The present
senior maid is the Hon. Harriet Lepel
Phipps, q cousin OF the Marquis of Ncr-
mandy. Miss Phipps will never see her
forty fifth birthday again. The Hon.
Frances Drummond, g daughter OF Wis
count Strathslian, is thirty-nine. The
Hon. Ethel Cadogan was born in 1858,
which puts to her credit thirty sum |
ners, and the Hon. Maud Okeover, a
niece Of Lady Waterpark, is only twenty
seven.